March of the Miserable
by Paper Lanterns And Yogurt
Summary: A boy and a girl sit on a set of swings. If they don't talk and they don't hold hands, does that mean they don't like each other? A cat passes them by and takes away all their silence. A friend finds them and smiles. A day passes by. They are in love.
1. Chapter 1

**_Asperger's Syndrome_**

_Asperger syndrome (AS) is a neurobiological disorder that is part of a group of conditions called **autism spectrum disorders**. The term "autism spectrum" refers to a range of developmental disabilities that includes autism as well as other disorders with similar characteristics._

* * *

No matter how perfectly plush it's shiny spotted coat was, it was still pretty dirty. Even when it's deliciously ferocious alexandrite eyes settled upon him and its whiskered twitched cunningly, it was still very much a stray. And _still_, despite watching how entrancing the thing's lithe body moved in a predatory-like gait, it was _still a cat_.

Neji watched with thoughtful eyes as he saw the feline stop slinking in the shadows to pinpoint its mesmerizing gaze on him. Something about this cat told him that even though it was ratty and malnourished, that its fur was icky with grime and muck, and that it was hissing at him with a paw alarmingly ready to slash his face, that the cat wasn't just an ordinary cat.

Like a gypsy the creature noticed his lapse in attention and promptly scampered away - the only thing Neji having being the beautiful devil's image.

With a bereft sigh, the young man continued on his way to school.

**:) :) :) :)**

"A cat?" Rock Lee's spoon full of leftover chicken noodle soup sat right before his opened mouth, but he was more enamored with his what his best friend has just told him. Quickly taking a bite, as to not be rude, the martial arts-loving boy said adamantly, "I will surely catch it then! A stray cat is a dead one, and one cannot simply leave those to death so cruelly!" He grinned with a goal, sticking the spoon clenched in his fist high in the air before settling down and devouring his meal with renewed vigor.

Neji coughed slightly at this. Lee was always willing to house strays, but he remembered that last time his over enthusiastic nature got him scratched all over and the young man nearly got an infection. Neji weighed his options, to try and talk Lee down from his proposal - nearly impossible - or to stay quiet and let him do what he wants.

Neji took a bite out of his sandwich. The idiot can do whatever he wants.

"C-cat?"

Something in Neji turned ice cold, fractured a bit, and then promptly broke off into the abyss that was his feelings.

Lee, being much more social, smiled and nodded. "Neji found a stray by his neighborhood on his walk to school!" The person in front of them smiled at this, her twitchy yet dextrous hands fidgeting slightly as she listened to Lee beginning to rant about the injustice of neglecting your pets - though she didn't seem to be hearing him. Hinata rarely came to her cousin during lunch, unless he forgot something (impossible) or she needed notes (more likely).

Feeling the good mood turn bitter, Neji turned his attention to the beautiful scenery instead. The school campus was lovely indeed, but going off it and into the woods beside the track field was liberating and invigorating at the same time. It was soothing and placating due to the soft wind that always shuffled between the foliage. The sun was currently shining through the canopy, not strong enough to warm the dew-laden grass but enough to give the area that comforting feeling of being in perfect bliss.

As Neji beheld the spectacle that was nature, he quickly noticed something amongst the trees, climbing along the branches like a caterpillar. At first he accused it of being a freshman, sneaking off campus to play in the forest and be rebellious to impress friends, but upon taking a closer look he found it to be the uniform that only third-years could wear. To his knowledge, third-years had outgrown the novelty of being allowed off campus and no longer came to the forest because it didn't gave them the sweet hubris to disobey the school rules. Most of the time now, they went in the opposite direction to the shopping center just a couple of blocks away. With only freshman bumbling about, the area was relatively quaint and thus why Neji chose to eat lunch in it. Though, since Lee found him last semester he couldn't call it 'quaint' any more.

Neji took another bite of his sandwich and began to watch the stranger.

They were about four trees away, concealing their visage with the thick covering of lively spring leaves. Neji noted that they left their backpack at the base of the trunk, as well as leaving a notebook with the stylized head of some sort of bear on the front. He leaned forward slightly to get a better look, noticing that the book had a name encrypted on the front. He felt his body smoothly tilting away from Lee's one-sided conversation, but was unable to make out the letters until he heard something go _thump_ and a loud _crack_.

Hinata bolted upright, her eyes widening as she forget entirely about Lee and ran off to where the sound originated. Lee, more stunned by Hinata's take-off than knowing what had caused the noise, looked curiously at Neji.

Neji took a third bite of his sandwich and shrugged. Not his problem he decided as he watched Hinata pick up the foreign backpack and notebook, knowing full well that neither are hers before she jogged to a place neither male could see.

"I-I'll see you l-later!" she spoke as loudly as she could. Lee waved despite the masses of tree blocking his view while Neji did not bother gracing his relative with a verbal response.

Distinctly though, he heard a hushed conversation as Lee began to slurp up his soup distractedly.

"Does it h-hurt? Oh gosh, I should h-have k-kept a better e-eye on you. Yo-you're all scraped up a-and..." Hinata said tearfully, guiltily.

"He's not up there," was the simply response. Muffled by the trees, it was ambiguous of the gender.

Hinata hiccuped and then said, "No, h-he's not. So don't go doing su-such risky moves. You could have bro-broken a b-bone. I'm w-worried for you." A soft moment of silence, their voices fading away.

"Which word was worry again?" And if Neji bothered to continue listening, he would have heard a soft, watery giggle before his cousin and the stranger's voices drifted too far away to hear.

**:) :) :) :)**

A literature test. Perfect. Just what he needed.

Neji sighed but did not complain, he was used to this nonsense as the flimsy piece of paper was seated upon his desk. Leaning back in his chair, lazily rolling an arm off onto the back of the chair, Neji stared down that test like it was a plague upon his house. Nothing could be worth less his time than this.

At least it meant there wouldn't be homework, the young male reasoned. He went to scribbling answers, ignoring everything else because they were far beneath him.

Something disrupted his concentration though in the form of the classroom door opening. He didn't bother looking up, having already guessed that it was the one person in the room who didn't show up after lunch.

The teacher, a calm yet intolerably lazy gray-hair man who was rumored to read adult novels in class, turned to the intruder. Neji tried to steer everything out of his head, but the test wasn't really that important to him so he began looking like he was concentrating with his pencil as he listened.

"Did you 'go bump' again?" their teacher asked, having already been given the excuse before.

"Went bump real hard this time," was the reply, causing a few students around Neji to snicker. He didn't want to be rude, but the vaguely retarded way the student worded things, along with slurring their th's like they had a lisp, was more than enough to make them get fun of. The student continued though, "I bumped and then Blueberry helped me get up but we still didn't find Hui Zhong."

More gurgles full of mocking mirth. Even Neji found it ridiculous. He finally looked up to see the school's most handicapped person: Tenten.

He never bothered to know more about her rather than what was obvious: that she has a disorder yet was so staggeringly smart in academics that she could go to this school. Still, going to a school full of entitled, snobby rich kids did not do her well, and she was always picked on.

Tenten is Chinese. She has dark brown hair tied up in poofy buns near the top sides of her head, as well as those slanted yet wide brown eyes. Her face are rounded, with a small button nose and a petite mouth. Every day she seemed to wear a sweater her grandma's grandma knitted that always had a stupid design on it, which obscures most of her body with the baggy sleeves that covered her surprisingly small hands. Even without the sweater shrinking her, she was pretty small, only about five feet high.

For a retard, she looked pretty normal, cute even, until she started talking or moving. If left unoccupied or bored, she would simply sway and rock in her seat, but if she got even the least bit agitated she would waggle her hands around or get up and begin twirling uncontrollably. At first it was peculiar, but now it was a self-invitation to laugh at her plight. Once Neji heard from Lee that she got so uncomfortable that her face turned tomato red and she accidentally slammed herself against a wall before running off and trying to climb the chain-link around the track field. Though she got pulled off and sent to the office it was not before the story got out and she was jeered at all day.

If she wasn't on an IEP they would have expelled her, Neji thought, feeling somewhat sorry for her as she gave her pink nurse's slip to the teacher and slowly made her way to her seat in the back. He knew that eyes were lighting up beside her as she passed by, gleaming with jubilation at her misery while smirks lit up on pompously pristine faces.

Neji reasoned with himself that even if she couldn't control herself, that he wasn't judging her and outright insulting her, but he knew that he wasn't helping her either. As calmly as he could, Neji went back to taking his test as he saw her walk by him. With his eyes down low, he noticed that the part of her legs left uncovered had band-aid's on them, a myriad of Looney Tunes and Hello Kitty with dabs of purple and blue and grass stains.

Uncaringly, he didn't look up.

**:) :) :) :)**

Something crashed together and toppled over, making a large racket. Neji covered his ears as he eyed the dirty fence before him cautiously. He couldn't see what was going on behind it, but he was sure that he had an idea.

"Lee, you're going to scare every possible stray around here away," he said dryly once the noise died down.

A shiny round head jumped up from across the fence, eyes bright with fire as the Green Beast pulled himself over the rotted wooden barrier. "I believe that I am on a very good lead here, my friend!" he exclaimed. "Look yonder, 'tis but the sign of scratching about! Oh but a small message, but a big one all the same! If ever love had interest in my liver - !"

Neji hastily strode up to his best friend and bushed him back over the fence, uncaring if he heard a loud yelp and trash cans upturn. Ever since Lee joined drama he wouldn't shut up, his indignation reaching its peak with that asinine last phrase.

_Meow_

Snapping out of his annoyed state, Neji quickly found the cat from before. He considered catching it, making a grab since Lee would be too late in climbing ove the fence again. But then he hesitated.

That cat was a stray, all dirty and beautiful at the same time in its own mysterious way. It was still starving though. Still not making a decision, Neji simply watched it. The feline slunk around in the shadows of the afternoon, pinpointing it's mesmerizing gaze on him once more. Something about this cat told him that even though it was ratty and malnourished, that its fur was icky with grime and muck, and that it was hissing at him with a paw alarmingly ready to slash his face, that the cat wasn't just an ordinary cat.

Before he could decide, Lee jumped over the fence and beside him with a big laugh of triumph, scaring the elegant creature off. Noticing his mistake, the young man raced after it.

Left by the cat twice that day, Neji turned on his heel and headed back home. He was best friends with Lee but he wasn't willing to become an amateur pet hoarder just yet. Since they had travelled the path he used to go home, Neji easily made it to his little abode. Though no one else lived in the house, Neji peered into the window beside the front door as if wishing someone did.

It was a little apartment building, nothing much. A kitchen connected to a living room, with two bedrooms and a bathroom. The couch was old but comfortable enough, placed in front of a bulky TV he never used. Slipping off his shoes to place them by the door, Neji padded across the soft expanse of navy blue carpet to lay his backpack on the kitchen counter. Grabbing the chair beside it, he sat down and began to do homework. Even if he had a high intelligence, he didn't exactly win it in a lottery.

The lone clock on the wall adjacent to him, seated neatly by the window opposite of the door and by the table that had picture frames and little potted plants jumbled on top of it, tick-tocked incessantly. _Tick-Tock Tick-Tick Tick-Tock_

Neji tried to drown it out, he had a habit of doing it, but whenever he was home and the sun was setting but he wasn't going to bother turning on the lights, whenever he did his homework knowing that he had to get every answer right, and whenever he had enough time in the world to think about the cat he didn't catch or the retard he ignored... that damned clock would tick and tock forever until he finished and went to bed early.

He took two hours, mostly blaming it on the clock but he knew that his calculus homework was getting aggravating and that he was having problems understanding it. But he got it down with relative belief that it was right. Shoving it back into his backpack with contempt, Neji quickly tried to take his leave from that accusing tick-tock.

_BRING_

"What now?" he nearly growled, looking over at his conceited bag on the counter as it blared some stupid ringtone he never seemed to recognize until the call had ended. With no one but himself, he knew it was his and he knew who was calling before he checked the ID. "What _now_?" Blunt, frank, and enough aggravation to get his message across.

He was rewarded with a little shuffling and stuttering, impatiently wanting to go to bed. The clock felt like it was hammering inside his cranium by this point. "U-uhm, th-the c-cat th-that Le-Lee s-s-said you s-saw..." she tried to begin, but she tripped over nearly all of the words that Neji was forced to tell her to repeat herself. The shy girl took a breath and tried to continue despite her cousin's scorn. "D-d-do you know what i-it l-looked like?"

Yes. "Not really."

"O-oh." She sounded disappointed. Who cares? "W-well... w-w-was it or-orange? W-with stri-stripes?"

Yes. "Maybe."

"D-did i-it hav-have gr-gr-green e-eyes?" She was forcing out garbage by this point, but instead of giving up and quietly thanking him for his help before hanging up, she persisted as best she could.

Neji nodded at this one, vividly remembering being enraptured by those eyes. "Nope."

A sad little sigh. "T-thank y-you th-though... Ha-ha-have a-a nic-nice eve-evening, co-c-cousin..." Neji grumbled and she hung up. Good riddance.

That night Neji felt like he was being watched. Sharp feline eyes were peering at him from the bleak darkness outside his bedroom window, and no matter if he pulled the thin blanket over his heat or ducked his gaze under his pillow, he could feel eyes on him. Only, instead of being green, they were brown.

* * *

**A/N: Yes Highschool AU. I have a habit of exiting out when I see one, but I'm hoping to give this one that 'unique twist' that makes it worth the gut-punching laborious trek of seeing ninjas in school uniforms. Not much of a plot yet, but maybe later when I continue laying everything out.**

**Edit: Went back and edited this. I have a habit of never actually reading what I write, so corrections are nice.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Bengal Cats**

_The **Bengal** is a hybrid breed of cat, formed by the cross of a domestic feline and an Asian Leopard Cat (ALC), Prionailurus bengalensis bengalensis._

_The Bengal cat has a desirable "wild" appearance and possesses a gentle domestic cat temperament, provided it is separated by at least three generations from the original crossing between a domestic feline and an ALC._

_The name Bengal cat was derived from the taxonomic name of the Asian Leopard Cat (P. b. bengalensis), and not from the more distantly related Bengal tiger._

* * *

It was no use, they wouldn't find the cat anytime soon and it had already been two months.

To Tenten that just meant that Hui Zhong probably died of starvation and disease. Her heart clenched at the thought, but she blamed herself for his disappearance. She should have been more intuitive of his changing patterns - more aware.

As the brunette walked the cold night road with her best friend Blueberry, she mentally went through all of Hui Zhong's mannerisms.

He is always groggy in the morning because of the cold air, but by afternoon he is prancing about. H will either play around the house or around the neighborhood, depending on how much sun he has absorbed from the previous nap. If the weather is unfavorable, he will seek attention from her father, who will be working on his computer. The old man will pet Hui Zhong, but will mainly be focused on his work. The cat will get the attention he demands when Tenten comes home, as well as a clean bowl of water and some cat food. Tenten will do her homework while Hui Zhong mewls around her, rubbing up against her back or legs until she pets the back of his ears - and then he will promptly ignore her until she stops paying attention to him again. That cycle will repeat a few times until she is done, at which then she will begin her household chores. Hui Zhong will help, as always, by playing with the dust bunnies she sweeps up or trying to trip her while she cleans dishes. Once that is over Hui Zhong will have retreated back to her father as Tenten begins making dinner. After that she has her hour of free time until bedtime at 10:00 p.m. She will get on her pajamas and make sure to keep her clothes off the floor less they be covered in cat fur come morning. She will stuff herself under her plush covers like a spring roll and Hui Zhong will saunter in and sleep like he owned the place.

And as far as Tenten knew Hui Zhong, he hated changes too. So, soaked with the frigid air, Tenten took a moment to think about any major changes that could have caused her cat to run off. Then, she realized an important connection and promptly said.

"Mom's dead."

Blueberry jumped at the statement, looking over at Tenten with uncontrollable shock.

Sputtering, the dark-haired girl gasped, "W-wh-w-wha-wha - I-I'm so-sor-sorry bu-bu-b-but w-wh-a-wha-wh..." She stared at Tenten incredulously, unable to convey any other means of communication.

But the cogs in Tenten's mind were already spinning and she wasn't thinking when she smiled gleefully. Blueberry paled, suddenly squeamish. Even though her mother died, which was horrible, that must have been the reason Hui Zhong left! He was looking for her, so it wasn't Tenten's direct fault like she had first thought! A huge burden felt like it had been taken off of her shoulders and Tenten smiled gleefully upon her epiphany. She turned to Blueberry and grinned, hoping to rejoice in the discovery.

Sadly, Blueberry did not convey the signals that Tenten had learned to be happiness. Instead her eyes were wide, eyebrows raised up under her hairline as she visibly frowned. Her shoulders shook, which is common for her when she is nervous, and her knees bent towards each other as if she was going to faint. Hands held in front of her chest, a finger touching the bottom of her lip which Tenten recognized as the sign for being highly distressed.

How confusing.

With her smile fading, Tenten cocked her head and asked, "What's amiss?" she asked as genuinely as she could, even if her voice barely gave any proper inflection.

Blueberry sniffled. "I-I-I did-didn't k-kn-know!" Her last word was an outburst and she began to cry.

Tenten didn't have knowledge on what to do when a person was crying. It was dark, they had stopped under a street light, and if they didn't keep moving they would both miss their curfews. "You're crying Blueberry," Tenten stated, and though she was deeply concerned her face did not show it. It rarely did portray her feelings. "And it's dark. Do you want to go home?" The other always did say that she hated the dark.

Blueberry cringed, but nodded and allowed herself to be dragged back to the mini-mansion she shared with her father and sister. They stopped at the door so Bluberry could get her keys, and every time Tenten came over she saw Blueberry looking longingly at the front window, as if wishing someone she knew lived there as well.

They took their shoes off by the front and walked across the lovely expanse of mahogany wood floor. Despite being just the living room, the place had a lavishly large couch in it with a coffe table and a heavy plasma screen. Blueberry's little sister, Sparrow, was busy playing some fun game that involved beating virtual people's faces in to get these 'combos' she once told Tenten. Despite staying at the door, Tenten knew that they had separate rooms such as the kitchen, the four large bedrooms with three large bathrooms, a dining room, laundry room, and a garage that housed their two cars. Tenten always wondered about that since only Blueberry's father was old enough to drive.

"Hey! Why you crying sis?" Sparrow squawked, turning away from her game just long enough to see who had entered. Her wide pearly eyes narrowed at the brunette. She disliked Tenten from the second she was given her 'dumb nickname', but Tenten rationalized that it had to be either Sparrow or Shortcake. In turn they did not enjoy the best of relations.

"I-it's okay, Hanabi," Blueberry reassured, having calmed down considerably since she first heard the news. "I just he-heard so-something that ma-made me really s-sad."

Sparrow blinked, then asked sincerely, "Did that dweeb get a girlfriend?"

Blueberry's face flushed and she shook her head rapidly. Tenten watched with interest, wondering how Dweeb - though Tenten preferred to call him Spikey - getting a girl friend would make Blueberry so sad in the first place.

Unable to think of an appropriate response, Tenten kept her trap shut. If she doesn't have anything pertaining to what is going on right now, she was told not to say it. It didn't make her friends, but it stopped from getting most of those awful stares. Blueberry escaped the prying eyes of her sibling as she dragged her friend back into her room.

It was easily bigger than the living room, with shiny wooden floors and beautiful cream-colored furniture. A large chandelier supplied light above the canopy bed made up of silk and feather-filled pillows. Despite being a Hyuuga as well, Blueberry was one of the 'messier' members and Tenten quickly noticed papers left out or stuffed toys resting in places they didn't belong. Without asking she began grabbing at them to find their proper places, causing Blueberry to laugh at her friend's impulsively clean nature, her previously dark mood brightening.

"It-it's my room!" Blueberry exclaimed, swiping an orange fox plush from the brunette's grasp. She smiled despite her complaint as she squeezed the toy to her chest.

Tenten turned to her, a bit puzzled. "But...," she said softly and gestured to the immaculate room rendered a pigsty in her opinion, "it's messy."

Sauntering up to Tenten, who was slightly shorter than her, Blueberry simply giggled at her, "Queen Bee d-does... what Queen Bee wants."

Bees. Bees are something that Tenten knew. She immediately understood, even if she didn't know the tone or the context.

"All worker bees are female," she began, unable to help herself as Blueberry put the plush back to its unusual spot on her bed. "Honey bees have 6 legs, 2 compound eyes made up of thousands of tiny lenses, one on each side of the head, 3 simple eyes on the top of the head, 2 pairs of wings, a nectar pouch, and a stomach." She began following the other as the younger went to her dresser and brought out two sets of sleepwear. Every sentence or so she would nod in acknowledgement.

"The honey bee's wings stroke incredibly fast, about 200 beats per second, thus making their famous, distinctive buzz. A honey bee can fly for up to six miles, and as fast as 15 miles per hour." Tenten took the clothes offered to her, putting them on the bed as she and Blueberry began stripping beside each other.

"The bee's brain is oval in shape and only about the size of a sesame seed, yet it has remarkable capacity to learn and remember things and is able to make complex calculations on distance travelled and foraging efficiency." Absently the brunette pulled the fluffy pink pajama top on, and wiggled her way into the pants after Blueberry took her wet clothes and deposited them into the hamper.

"It takes one ounce of honey to fuel a bee's flight around the world. A honey bee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a collection trip. Each honey bee colony has a unique odor for members' identification. Bee's communicate with one another through 'dancing'." Both girls tucked themselves up under Blueberry's thick yet ornate bedsheets. Tenten still felt like babbling until the lights went out and the quiet girl yawned and nodded one last time.

"Worker bees can sting... but only if they feel that either themselves..." Tenten yawned "or their queen... is threatened." She sleepily closed her eyes and smiled. "Then they die."

**:) :) :) :)**

"They're just so systematically inclined. It is an epic myriad of teamwork and undoubting loyalty," Tenten said happily, still on her bee-high as she wore Blueberry's extra uniform for school today. Sparrow grumbled, unable to block out the chatter as well as her sister and being unable to play her video games due to having school as well - and thus having to withstand the ramblings of a very excited young lady.

"Be nice, she hasn't smiled so much in a while," Blueberry whispered, nodding quickly when Tenten asked if she knew how many eggs the queen could lay. 2,500 eggs in a single day - of course.

Unlike at school, Tenten could feel herself. She was talking and no one reprimanded her for saying something weird. Blueberry in turn enjoyed listening, genuinely interested in how much information the girl actually knew. "The bumblebee, known as _bombus_, the stingless bee, _Meliponini_, and the honey bee, _Apis_, are all connected by the _Apidae_ family. That is what makes them so different from wasps, which are commonly referred to be part of the _Vespidae_ faction. Ah, but you probably all knew that right?" Tenten paused. She had ranted about bees before, the others might have heard it too much and she was just talking to air._  
_

Blueberry shook her head assuredly, but Sparrow just stamped her foot and impatiently waited for the car that came every day to pick them up and bring them to school to get here.

"In biology, they should have you do a paper on bees," the elder Hyuuga suggested softly, smiling when Tenten's eyes lit up and her head was already swarming like a hive.

Tenten was a star like this. She didn't care what others thought of her, she had a friend (and her begrudging little sis) who actually cared for her, and they were having fun together! Everything was so perfect!

But sadly, Tenten cannot believe in perfection.

The big shiny black car with the black windows and the chauffer in the black suit who wore black sunglasses and a black cap with black gloves on the black steering wheel rode up to the front of the house in all of his glory. Tenten visibly deflated and mutely followed the sisters into the vehicle.

Usually the window would not be rolled down, but the brown-eyed girl was certain that she couldn't stand looking at one shade for so long. Blueberry and Sparrow enjoyed the view as well, often resigned to staring at the dark tinted windows and gaze out into a world that was not allowed to see in return. They passed houses, bushes, trees, people jogging or walking their dogs, and several students on their way to school.

"Woof!" Tenten exclaimed, and leaned over to stick her head outside. Sparrow tugged incessantly on her knee-high green uniform skirt, at her navy blue uniform jacket covered by the clumpy sweater she refused not to wear, and even at her hair until Blueberry sat her back down.

"Don't blame me if her giant head smashes into a mailbox," the youngest girl said scornfully, folding her arms over her chest as she envied the clueless girl who could be so free.

"HEYYYY!"

Both sisters' eyes widened when Tenten lunged the entire upper portion of her body out the window, each making a grab for her clothes as Tenten seemed to be waving frantically. Her hair was falling out of its buns despite the car going at only a mellow pace, the wind whipping her cheeks and nose until they turned a light pink, and her eyes were alight with sheer jubilation. Even if she still had a hairstyle from second grade, even if she still wore those horrid clothes, and even if her cat went missing because her mother died nearly half a year ago, Tenten was the pinnacle of happy.

And Neji Hyuuga was met with a face full of such elation.

The car passed quickly for just twenty miles an hour, but that was far too slow in Neji's mind as he saw the girl he still regarded as mentally handicapped. She was waving at him and spouting that ludicrous nickname: "Morning Honeydew!" before they passed. Tenten was then forcefully yanked back in the vehicle with two pairs of slim, dainty pale hands that he knew all too well.

With a massive sigh, the dark-haired adolescent continued on his walk to school. For once he didn't frown when the limo his sisters were driven in passed by, and he didn't know if he fully recognized the reason for such feelings.

He would, soon, he always did. He's a genius.

**:) :) :) :))**

Neji didn't bother explaining to Lee why he was late, the idiot didn't need to know. And sensing that his friend was in a hollow mood, the male agreed to give him space and simply went to copying notes like the rest of the students.

All the young male wanted to do was to go back home and crawl under his covers. He glared at the object of his frustrations, knowing full well that she didn't know what she did embarrassed him but putting on the blame on her none the less.

Even in middle school she was unpredictable.

Leaning back in his chair, Neji reminisced the glorious days of learning that girls didn't have cooties, that your parents words were no longer right, and when your cousin still lived with you and smiled of her own accord when you saw her.

_Neji frowned, as custom for showing disdain upon an unwelcome event or person. Currently he was met with both. Hinata's bruised knees worried him, but even more so when he saw her dopey smile and her chubby little hand clutched firmly in the grip of a girl who kept her eyes glues to the floor._

_"N-Neji!" she gasped, as if she had just found out unicorns were real (_an illusion Neji did not regret breaking on her seventh birthday_)._

_"You said you were just going outside to play dollies," the older grumbled, quickly trying to remember where they kept the bandages. Hanabi was no help, completely absorbed in her Poke-Digi-whatever game on the couch. "Last time I remember, dollies don't involved ruined clothes, scrapped knees, and looking like an idiot."_

_But Hinata only smiled further, the usual shyness about her seeming to dissolve. The brown-haired girl beside her was now looking at his shoe-laces, unblinking and unsmiling despite her cheeks being bright red and a beaten up soccer ball being held in the hand not being held by Hinata. The younger girl's grin seemed to brighten considerably. "I-I di-did star-start playing dolls! B-bu-but then T-T-Tenten came a-along a-and of-offe-offered to p-play so-soccer wi-with m-me!"_

_Neji loved soccer, but he had no idea how they ended up like that. He quirked an eyebrow and waited for an explanation for their dishevelment._

_Hinata flushed considerably and tried to fidget with her hands, though one was still in the other girl's grasp. "W-w-well..." She turned to Tenten for help, waiting for the other to talk. The brunette didn't even seem to notice until Hinata said, "T-te-tell N-Neji wh-what ha-happened! Ju-just te-ten mi-minutes ago!" She smiled sweetly, unaccustomed to this term called 'friendship'. To Neji it just looked like a kicked dog licking the feet of the first person not to shove it away._

_Tenten suddenly spoke up, though she still didn't look at them. "We entertained ourselves passing the ball back and forth, but then the sprinklers at the park seemed to decide that now was the time to execute the jobs they were designed for, and soaked us in a waterfall of their deluge. We kept playing, but soon thereafter I was infelicitous enough to slide straightforwardly into a thorn bush. Blueberry had to meticulously extricate myself from the foliage, however, we still wound up with many lesions."_

_The two were silent at the long explanation, and Neji wondered if the ten-year-old brainy brunette read dictionaries for fun. Only Hanabi was eloquent enough to sum their reactions into words. "What?" she asked, puzzled enough into pausing her game._

_Seeming to stare even harder at the floor, wall, or anything that wasn't a sentient being, Tenten merely said, "We fell."_

_Hanabi frowned and said sarcastically, "Yeah." Then, she growled out, "Why didn't you say so in the first place?"_

_Tenten swallowed thickly, even if her face remained impassive. Hinata gripped her hand further, scared of her sibling's harshness. "I forgot," is all Tenten could supply._

_Having had enough, Neji groaned and turned away from the awkward duo. "I'm going to get you band-aids and towels. Keep your 'friend' from tracking mud on the floor." Even if he sneered it, he could see his little cousin's eyes light up at the mention of having a comrade. He ruefully went on to complete his task, still wondering how Tenten tried very hard not to look into anyone's_ eyes.

Thinking back on it, Neji knew he should have forbidden such a show of platonic affection. Tenten may be able to function on the basic levels, but she was so far below 'normal' that Hinata was never able to make real friends and was thus stuck with that girl.

He had tried so hard at the beginning of freshman year too, even going as far as to beg Ino and Sakura to accept the lonely rich girl into their close circle. But to no avail. If Neji wasn't so sure that his cousin pined for Uzumaki, he would have been certain that she was a lesbian. For years Tenten has hung out with Hinata, making up those ridiculous nicknames, refusing to look people in the eye, and acting like a complete retard.

And that little debacle in the morning just cemented the fact that Tenten should just stop breathing and go to hell.

_"Hey, Honeydew, did you know that I have a cat? His name is Hui Zhong! He likes to sleep and has an obsession with getting his way. He's orange colored with lotsa black stripes and dots - similar to that of a leopard! His eyes are a quirky twist between forest green and vermillion, speckled with flakes of gold!" Tenten told him one day while they waited for Hinata - or 'Blueberry' as Tenten always called her, and would not accept any other name for the meek girl - to get ready for their play date._

_Neji simply shrugged, silently feeling proud at knowing all of the big words Tenten seemed to know like the back of her hand. Not even turning to look at her, for he was sure that she hadn't turned to look at him, he merely said nonchalantly.  
_

_"Sounds like a cat you can't miss."_


	3. Chapter 3

**Hans Asperger**

_An Austrian pediatrician, medical theorist, and medical professor. He is best known for his early studies on mental disorders, especially in children. His work was largely unnoticed during his lifetime except for a few accolades in Vienna, and his studies on psychological disorders only became world renown posthumously. There was a resurgence of interest in his work beginning in the 1980s, and due to his earlier work on autism spectrum disorder, Asperger syndrome (AS), was named after him. Both Asperger's original paediatric diagnosis of AP and the eponymous diagnosis of AS that was named for him several decades have been controversial._

* * *

"Hey Tenten, try not to trip on the stairs," Strawberry says, about as politely as she could. She was always interested in medicine, but Tenten's disorder was psychological, and thus out of her field. She didn't treat her badly, but the way she speaks as if Tenten is a child annoys the brunette and makes her dislike the fair-haired sophomore.

"Trippy-Dippy-Doo," is all Tenten says, having long ago given up trying to explain things and just saying whatever she wanted. It's not like anyone takes her seriously. The less words, no matter how jumbled or stupid, the better. If only Strawberry knew that because all the girl did is smile awkwardly and move on with her life. It's not the first time Tenten's innate two-left feet have propelled her down the school steps; she just learned that if you cover your head and roll into a ball then you won't get as many bruises.

With Blueberry, Tenten is herself. At school, she is a sociopath. People look at her and they don't understand. The way she moves her feet like rigid bamboo, often tripping even when she tries her darndest. Why she slurs her words and speaks like a five-year-old. Why her hair is the same, her clothes are the same, and she isn't interested in what everyone else likes. Why she doesn't look anyone in the eye.

When she was younger, parents kept their children away out of fear. Blueberry's father never did because he was away a lot and didn't care. But other parents eyed her as if some strange disease. Sometimes she could hear women at the park approach her mother, asking if her child was... defective.

"She is not," her mother said softly, but coated in a casting of steel. The other lionesses would back away, knowing the feeling of motherly devotion yet wondering why _her_ child didn't smile or play with the other cubs. Tenten simply sat on her knees in the dirt staring at the sand. And thus, all of the other people stalked away, not wanting to bother with those they thought defective. For Tenten, her mother thought she was perfect.

"Your father has it too," her mother explained when her husband wasn't around. He was a king made of metal, and she was his lady of gold. Only she knew what could crumble his defenses. "His childhood, he doesn't like to recall, but it was much worse than yours. People would have killed him if he didn't conform to that rigid society. That is why I must protect you, at all costs. You're not broken, Tenten. You're different. You do not function like other boys and girls, but that does not mean that you function defectively."

"Defective," is all Tenten has said in response, inner turmoil bubbling at the word. She didn't like it. It reminds her of the little toy robots she plays with, because metal has never tried to hurt her. And yet, she thinks of that one robot that would always move the wrong way and disregard her orders. That robot was defective, she was defective, and when she got angry at it and threw it in the trash... well, it was only natural to get rid of it. Of her. Her mother just strokes her hair as Hui Zhong creeps into the room, pushing his lean body between the two females on the bed to get the most body heat, and began to purr as all of the unease drifts out the window. "Not wrong?" she asks.

Her mother smiled and held her tighter despite the cat's protest. "Never."

Tenten's foot slips on the stairs, and she tumbles awkwardly down. When she hits the bottom people only laugh at her and don't try to help her up.

Still somewhat in the past, Tenten used the railing to steady herself, eyes locked on the ground. Because of that, she didn't see the only person who wasn't laughing at her, and simply walked past him looking at the ground. He smelt like honeydew.

**:) :) :) :(**

When Neji saw the cat strutting around his neighborhood again, he had come prepared. It watched him, ears erect and tail swaying dangerously as he pulled out the small can of tuna. He didn't really know what felines ate, but he assumed it was fish and opened the small metallic lid. He set it down slowly, locking eyes with the other as he set it down by his feet.

Then, without a word, Neji walked off. He didn't know if the cat with the flecks of gold in its eyes actually ate it, but it was the least he could do. The guilt hadn't settled yet, and he was positive that the cat wasn't going to let him catch it anyways, but he found the moment his cousin had called he knew who owned that cat. Maybe if he can get Lee to use his speed and catch it, he can return it. It's the least he can do for her. But...

At school, he vividly remembered her suddenly falling down the stairs, her gaze caught somewhere far, far away even as she got back to her feet shakily. No one helped her, only jeers and crude remarks as that look in her eye told him that she wasn't even listening. He kept his mouth closed as she began to walk by, eyes to the floor. He had tried to get her to see him, to tell her maybe he knew where her cat was.

But to her, he was no better than _them_, and thus soldiered off absentmindedly.

Infuriated, he closes his mouth and goes home alone. Her cat can get struck by lightning for all he cared. To his disappointment, he realizes that he does care. Logically, if Tenten did die, then that will leave his cousin completely friendless. Hinata was just so painfully shy that she needed someone not too overbearing or hyper to approach her, and be able to tolerate her innate inability to choose for herself and offer her own opinions. Since Tenten cannot speak her own mind without someone judging her, the two are near inseparable.

So, instead he goes back home and does his homework. The clock is cooing in his ear and he spitefully ignores it this time. It takes him an hour for his math homework and he feels bile rising up the back of his throat. With the extra time, he cooks himself dinner and does so in the dark. When he notices this, he stubbornly turns on the lights.

Outside his window, he begins hearing a cat's meow. And that, to his loathing, is much worse than the clock.

**:) :) :( :((**

Tenten didn't know how to talk to people. She tried, she honestly did, but people always lie and it's hard when what they say you can never trust. Tenten finds it hard to lie, painful even. She cannot formulate a tale to tell even if her life depended on it. To speak what is incorrect burns her tongue and sets her teeth on edge. Yet, all around here there are lies. Strawberry lies about getting over Blackie after their relationship didn't last. Lemon lies about eating despite not touching food in weeks. Even Blueberry lies about being okay even when she isn't.

Blueberry's lies are harder to take, because she always tells Tenten this whenever she asks about the other girl's emotional wellbeing. And Tenten just knows that it is a lie. It is the only deplorable trait Blueberry has. She is kind, and sweet, and though she is too timid, she is so expressive and good that it confuses Tenten why when she is sad or lonely, she just tells her that she is 'feeling happy'.

At first, Blueberry had merely told her that "she was okay," but if she was crying or her knees were scrapped, Tenten was positive that she was 'not okay'. Thus, Blueberry changed it to a response that made sense, but still perplexed the brunette.

Today though, Blueberry was far from 'feeling happy'. She was sobbing into Tenten's shoulder as the brown-eyed girl watch as Spikey and Strawberry kiss openly on the campus. They had just made their relationship official. Honeydew is quick to find them after ten minutes, having heard. His eyes are trained on her for a bit before patting his cousin on the shoulder. Green is right behind him, looking bereft as Blueberry.

"I know, dearest Hinata, how hard it is to have someone not return your youthful feelings," Green tells her comfortably, and Blueberry shows her face just long enough to nod.

"Does Green also share your love for Spikey?" Tenten questions. Blueberry and Green laugh in their misery and both shake their head. Tenten tries to lift one eyebrow to show her confusion, a trait she has seen Honeydew exhibit. He sees this, and huffs.

Green clears his throat, but his voice is still hoarse as he says, "Th-the one I have a crush on i-is Sakura..." Oh. That made sense. If Blueberry likes Spikey and Green likes Strawberry, then the two will be crushed when the objects of their affection do not return such sentiments. Tenten now realizes why Blueberry is not 'feeling happy'.

"Blueberry, why'd you lie then." Now it is Blueberry who looks at her perplexed. "You told me you were feeling happy, but you're crying. Happy people don't cry, you told me."

"Sometimes people lie so other people's feelings don't get hurt," Honeydew cuts in, his voice candid and clear amongst all the sadness. His arms are crossed in front of his chest and he looks at her like he wants to say something. After a terse moment, he does. "Anyways, I heard you lost your cat."

Tenten's face is blank. "I'm so sad that Hui Zhong is gone," she laments. Green's eye turn to Honeydew's, who is glaring a bit.

He stuffs his hands in his pocket and looks ready to walk away. "Hn." Looking over his shoulder, he spies Spikey draping an arm over Strawberry's shoulders. He turns his head back. "Let's all eat lunch by the trees." Blueberry takes her cousin's unusual display of consolation and the four walk off campus to behind the track. Tenten's eyes are trained on the branches, and she unconsciously moves to rub the bruises she had sustained from crawling on them. Blueberry was positive that Hui Zhong wouldn't be up there, but maybe he would be today.

Letting go of Blueberry's hand, Tenten drops her backpack and begans to amble up the trunk like a leopard, easily making it to the branches and looking around. Blueberry gasps from below her. "Tenten, t-that's dangerous! R-remember what happened l-last time!" Honeydew's eyes widen at this, but then his expression turns to stone. Green on the other hand is looking at her like she is heaven-sent, and something flutters in Tenten's chest as his excited gaze. "Hu-Hui Z-Zhong w-won't be u-up there!"

"But... "Tenten's eyes flicker back to the tree tops. "My cat." She scoots around some more, trying hard to see any speck of orange amongst the golden leaves while Blueberry tries to convince her to get down before what happens last time happens again. "My cat."

Her clumsiness causes for her to get her sweater snagged on a twig, and while she turns to dislodge it, she swings her balance off the branch and has only a second to realize what happens until she feels strong, muscular arms wrap around her securely and she is looking up into Green's wide, concerned buggish-like eyes. "Be careful, youthful Tenten! It is most unyouthful to push yourself too far beyond your limits, but I commend your search for your cat! In fact, if I ever see your cat and I cannot catch it, I will run fifty laps on the tracks! And if I can't do that, then I will do a hundred push ups, and if I can't do _that_ -" Though he is shouting in her face, the glimmer in his great big orbs and the way he is not scolding at her nor is admonishing her for being stupid again but _encouraging_ her causes Tenten to blush inwardly On the outside, she is motionless and rigid.

Honeydew takes this as a sign and pries her out of Green's arms, forcefully pulling her to her feet and righting her. "She's dysfunctional, Lee, not deaf. I think you scared her." Tenten stares at the ground.

"Oh, but Neji, my eternal rival, I am just impassioned by Miss Tenten's search for her cat! Why, it is most unfortunate for her to lose Hui Zhong in the first place, but I can see the determination etched into her beautiful features! I cannot let her efforts go in vain!" Green is whooping around now, his crisis on losing Strawberry's affections long gone for now. Even Blueberry is wiping her tears away and laughing, which Tenten learned is a sign of happiness.

"Feeling happy, Blueberry?" she asks, hoping to confirm it. When Blueberry nods with a smile, Tenten tries to smile herself. It feels forced, so she settles for a little tilt of the lips. Blueberry gives her a hug and they finally all settle down for the rest of their lunch.

Throughout it, Green is galloping and not sitting still, the fire in his eyes drawing Tenten to focus more on him than the food. Honeydew is swallowing his sandwich like it insulted his mother, while Blueberry just nibbles on a ball of rice idly and giggling when Green does something assumed to be comedic.

"Fear not, beautiful Sakura, for even if your heart is Naruto's, I will never stop my undying devotion to you!" Green then drops into a dramatic stance, and his voice is precise and enunciated. "Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, having some business, do entreat her eyes to twinkle in their spheres till they return. What if her eyes were there, they in her head? The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars as daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven would through the airy region stream so bright that birds would sing and think it were not night. See how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!" He ends in a flourish, pumping a fist into the air and shouting a great big, "YOSH!"

Honeydew glares at him. "Shut up, Lee. Don't you dare bring your drama shenanigans here. I have enough of you asinine banter during class."

Seeming to be accustomed to this, Green laughs and twirls. "But my eternal rival, I cannot stop the ferocious determination at trying even harder to make the beautiful Sakura's heart mine! If she was Juliet, I would certainly be her Romeo!"

The white-eyed male huffs. "And then you both will die. Sit down and eat, I don't want you complaining about an empty stomach." Deciding that it is a logical conclusion, Green drops down with his legs crossed and proceeds to engorge himself on his meal.

Tenten, thoroughly amused, pulls her camera out of her bag and snapps a picture of Green's mouth opening up like a pit and looking like he was inhaling his forkful of peas. He stared at her curiously before grinning and giving her a thumbs-up. Tenten takes another picture, and then takes one of Blueberry. She turns to take one of Honeydew, but he has turned his head around so she took one of his hair instead.

"You have very long hair." She states.

"It's traditional." He replies.

"Sparrow's hair isn't long" She points out. The young girl, after being told that she looks like Honeydew, rebelliously cut her long locks just last year. It was the longest grounding she had ever endured.

"Hanabi is Hiashi's daughter. She can do whatever she wants." Tenten drops it, seeing the apparent wisdom in Honeydew's words. He turns to give her a triumphant smirk, only to get caught in the flash and glares at her when she flips the camera around to show him his arrogant face.

"You have long hair, but I like your face better." She is blunt in her statement, and then goes back to taking snapshots of Green while he poses for her. And so, Tenten spends her lunch feeling very happy to have met Green, as well as glad that Blueberry is genuinely 'feeling happy'.

**:) :) :) :)**

While Neji walked home from school that day, he decided that his scorn for the brunette girl would have to wait. Like it always did. Right now, Lee was sprinting around the neighborhood in search of the cat. Neji doesn't bother to tell him that the stray is Tenten's, for if Lee does catch it and sends it to the pound, he'll just tell her later. Right now, he brought out a can of tuna and sets it down on the curb before walking off.

Behind him though, he heard his cousin's voice and Lee's excited tone. He half-turns to see them converse, the orange light glazing over them with the warm sensation of amiable acquaintances.

"The cat's been around here for nearly a week! I've seen it! It doesn't come out often, and I am most worried about it's health! Such a cat cannot be left to fend for itself!"

"D-do you know what it l-looked like?"

"Vaguely, but if I saw it I would recognize it!"

"Oh." She sounded excited. "W-well, was it or-orange? With stri-stripes?"

"Oh, indeed! Most definitely!"

"Dd it have gr-green eyes?" He could hear her delight, her words tinged with hope and her stutter leaving her.

Lee nodded at this one, vividly remembering being enraptured by those eyes. "Greener than the hills!"

A gratefully happy smile. "Thank you, Lee. Have a good evening, and I hope you do well on your search" Neji grumbles as she turns to leave. Good riddance.

Lee sauntered up to the Hyuuga male's side, looking jovial. "Maybe the glorious Hinata has seen the cat before. I think it is becoming somewhat of a tale to tell. We certainly do not get cats like that around here. And if I can catch this cat, I can surely catch the shy Tenten's Hui Zhong too!" Neji snorted at the boy's dense head. "What?"

"Tenten isn't shy," he tells him point blank. "She's the girl with that disorder, the one who falls down stairs and won't look at people. She's not shy, she just doesn't express her emotions at all."

The bowl cut-haired male took a while to think about this, walking in turn with his friend's brisk pace.

Finally, before Neji could get up to his house and turn the knob, Lee said sincerely, "Kinda like you?"

In the distance a cat could be heard purring.

* * *

**A/N: Fuck am I doing? Past-tense, present-tense? Aw well, the plot is thickening. Hopefully all of the nicknames are easy enough to know who is who, considering it's Tenten who is narrating. Aspergian's aren't the most creative at their nicknames, they prefer them to be functional and easy to use.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Miserable**

_In a state of misery. To feel great sorrow or sadness. To be very bad or unskilled at something._

* * *

Tenten felt many emotions. She knew when she is happy or sad or angry. For years she never noticed that you often had a physical response to the emotional one, and it was not until Blueberry pointed out that she rarely smiled or grinned that she began taking note of other people's body language. Surprisingly, it is a very difficult task. All sorts of people do different things. If happy, you laugh and smile and your eyes light up. If you are sad then you are frowning and or crying and your eyes are dimmed with grief. But there is that grey area, Tenten realized. You can be happy and sad at the same time by smiling and crying or laughing and having dim eyes. It baffled her, how emotions can be so mixed.

Like paint.

Looking at her color palette with scrutiny, Tenten mixed red and blue together with her brush. Purple. Two colors, making another one. Red and Blue. Happy and Sad. That's not even scratching the surface. What if you mix more blue than red? You get indigo. What emotion is indigo? What if you add an entirely new color together? How will she be able to recognize all of the patterns if there are so many? Tenten's not dumb, she's well aware that everyone handles situations differently. To her, it is like a wall of color. Tenten, despite her cheery nature, hates too much color.

All of the different hues and saturations are spinning right in front of her, and she can't make heads of tails over what's so beautiful about it. That is why she hates abstract art. Everyone else could pick out the hidden meaning, but all she sees are confusing shapes and spontaneous colors that are supposed to mean something. But she doesn't get it.

Everyone else does, so that must mean it's her fault.

In a fit of 'anger' as Tenten recalled it, she frowned and did not cry now have her eyes dim. No, they glimmer with a fiery warmth that is not inviting. She tentatively mixes the paint out of her brush in the jar of water beside her, unhappy with the purple that is coating it. Purple is an ugly color to her.

So, instead of purple or indigo of amethyst or all of the confusing words and emotions, Tenten chooses a primary color. Blue.

Blue is the best color, along with red and yellow. They are the basics of everything and anything. You can combine them to make many more colors, which hurts Tenten's head and causes her distress. But these colors can never lie to her. They are simple and they do not hide their meanings. They do not lie to her.

Thinking about colors, Tenten thinks about how the colors match her friends. Hui Zhong is red. He is picky and spoiled, and he is much too stubborn and cantankerous to be the mellow blue or the exuberant yellow. Blueberry and Honeydew are both blue, for they are quiet and calm people who each hold inexplicable sadness brought upon by tragedy not their own but are affected none the less. Blueberry always confides in Tenten with her blue feelings, but Honeydew hides his behind a tower of red - and thus he confuses her. Green is the best example of them though, and Tenten tries to outwardly smile at the glee he brings her.

Green is yellow, hopefully forever and always. He is always smiling and his eyes are always twinkling. He does not cry and he always gets back up. At the beginning of the year, Green hung out with Honeydew and she only saw him during gym. At first he was too yellow for her, but now he is a yellow that she won't mind trying to endure.

Tenten isn't stupid, she knows exactly how she is feeling. Despite being a simple girl, her emotions are quiet complicated mainly because how often their colors mix. Right now, she is feeling cerise, and it is one of the few mixed feelings she finds that she can enjoy.

Mixing red with less blue and a pinch of green, Tenten finds her color. It is warm and comfortable, and she begins painting with ease.

**:) :) :) :)**

Hinata worries for Tenten, she truly does. At the beginning she was only happy that someone had approached her and asked if she wanted to play soccer with the sprinklers on, but now she realizes how much Tenten needs her and how happy she is that they are friends.

The girl has always been there for her, an indomitable spirit through thick and thin. When she learned that Tenten would be going to the same high school with her, she felt fear before she felt anything else. She knows that the school has high standards, but many of the students have rich families like she does and they simply pay for their wasted educations. Tenten is not from those rich families, but she got a scholarship that her father couldn't refuse. The teachers are good but the kids are rotten.

Sasuke and Naruto are more like immortal enemies than friends, always getting into trouble and starting fights. The girls sneak behind their boyfriend's backs and have no shame with breaking the rarely enforced dress code. In this school, even your soul has a price on it, and many of the kids have the money to pay for it. Not that they'd actually spend money; kleptomania is rampant in the area.

Her cousin only goes to this school as a debt to her father, being allowed to live in his apartment and not having to get a job to pay for it in exchange for watching out for her. It's not really about her education, it's the image she will have as she goes to a prestigious school.

From across the room, Hinata looks over at Neji and sees the way he is distracted. It must either be an easy lesson or he is actually unfocused. Most of the time it is the former, but in recent weeks it has turned to the latter. It must be due to his hyperactive best friend prancing around his neighborhood, looking for a stray that's lost there. Silently Hinata hopes that Neji will see the cat and catch it, if just to confirm if it's Hui Zhong or not, but Neji has never done something like that before, and she doubts he will begin now. Especially if he knows whose cat it belongs to.

His relationship with Tenten is... rocky, at best. Ever since they became friends, he has kept her at arms-distance and becomes infuriated when he does not understand her. He reads people like open books, but Tenten is a sealed tome that he has become too annoyed with to continue trying to read. Hinata remembers him trying to get her to become friends with Ino and Sakura, even Karin and Temari and Kin, in her first-year. The girls have all been very accepting of her, and she continues to be on good terms, but they can't understand Tenten like she does, and as a result she cannot accept them.

For other people, all they see is a really short Chinese girl who wears a hairstyle that is too old for her, sweaters that are too big for her, and an emotionless face that does not suit her cheerful personality at all. She doesn't look people in the eye, and is often accused of stealing or lying. In reality, she is the exact opposite of both of them, and it hurts Hinata when she sees other people think of her friend like that. Only Neji, and possibly Lee, can see past the disorder to the lonely kid inside; Neji because he has known her for as long as she has, and Lee because he is always looking for the good in people.

Hinata smiles, thinking of the 'picnic' they had after her crushing ordeal. After learning that her long-time crush Naruto has begun dating Sakura, she thought that Tenten was all she would have to lean on. To her surprise, her cousin sought her out and even suggested a private place to recuperate. Seeing all of them together made the heartbreak easier, especially when Lee seemed to accept Tenten just fine. Maybe... they can become friends. Maybe... more?

The shy girl turns to view her cousin in askance. He is not copying down notes. In fact, he seems to be writing down brands of tuna. Quirking an eyebrow, apparently a common trait for people in her family when they are giving a silent question, Hinata wonders why Neji would be fussing over what type of tuna he buys. Thinking back, he doesn't even like tuna. And why is he drawing pictures of kitties?

Taking a moment to assess the situation, Hinata smiles timidly. Maybe her cousin cares a lot more than he lets on.

**:) :) :) :))**

It is the last period of the day. Honeydew has not been concentrating on the teacher for the past ten minutes. Blueberry is looking wistfully out the window. Tenten is confused by this but decides that it is rude to ask what a matter. Whenever she talks in class, someone is always there to reprimand her. So she does not.

It is another day wondering about Hui Zhong. Painting in art class had been a temporary reprieve from the endless worry. Her poor cat is probably diseased and dirty - starving to death on the streets.

Her birthday is coming up and her farther is caught between his chasm of sorrow and one of the greatest moments of his life. He is like her. Neither of them look each other in the eye, and their house if willed with his obsession of old ancient weapons. Through him came Tenten's unnatural yearning for martial arts and combat. Every Saturday at six. They have never missed a practice session and they do not plan to do so now. Her teacher knows her family, but it is all business - just like her father. Ever since mom died it has been only business.

Father cares, but like her he cannot show it in kind gestures and facial expressions. He divulges himself in his work and loves her by making sure to give her all of the necessities like a solid roof over their head and warm food on their plates. Ever since Hui Zhong disappeared, he has been returning home later and later. He does not smoke or drink, finding both horrible experiences when he was younger, and has no way to relieve stress besides pushing it onto his employees and workplace. Her father is distant and bitter like when he was a kid, but he has tasted love and a family unlike so many others misunderstood, and on her birthday he promises that they will go out to celebrate because she is turning sixteen and she can invite any of her friends if she has any.

And as of yesterday, sprung from tragedy of the hearts, Tenten did get friends. Blueberry had always been with her, though her cynic father thought that the girl saw her as a pity-case, and Honeydew always regarded her with annoyance. Green had been the first person to really not care of her odd mannerisms. It was as if he didn't know she had them!

Definitely, Tenten decided, giggling on the inside as she impassively looked at the front of the classroom. I'll definitely invite him.

But... how? Walking up to someone whilst being a jumble of nerves has always been disastrous. Tenten recalls every time Blueberry had tried to approach Spikey, only able to stutter a word or two with her face bright red and looking anywhere but him. Often she tries to remain eye contact but not with Spikey. He is often trying to talk to Strawberry, who had pushed all of his attempts back at him. Blueberry had often confided in her about the chances that maybe if she gets him to see her then he will drop his infatuations with Strawberry and returns hers instead. But surprisingly, she did end up relent to Spikey's crush and the two seem to be in a very prosperous relationship. Blueberry doesn't show it, but she had stopped feeling as happy as she used to.

How will she feel if Green continues pandering for Strawberry's attention? Even if she's a bit patronizing, Strawberry is undoubtedly one of the top most suitable mates to have. Logically, she always has her future planned out for her and is working hard to achieve them. She relied on her parent's money to get into this school, but with the way she is going now she will probably have a full-time scholarship for any medical college of her choice. She is a kind girl, and is always bubbly. Knows how to handle herself in situations, proven with her friendship with Blackie remaining intact after their heinous coupling during the first-year.

Compared to Tenten's suitability, Strawberry outranks her by far. For one, she can look people confidently in the eye.

Suddenly turning blue, Tenten stares down at her paper. She turns her head to gaze out the window, imagining a canvas with all of her emotions on it. Red. Yellow. Blue. Right now, all shades of blue have been slathered over each other. Her mother's death was bitterly cobalt. Her father's depression is a glaring teal. Hui Zhong's disappearance coats the entire frame in cerulean. Adding in Green's possible rejection of a relationship, as well as most likely any chance of a friendship, and the entire painting is nothing but a stark sea of navy blue sadness. Turning back to the front of the class, Tenten feels like she wants to cry.

Something hits her on the head, right on the nose. It stops her tears as people chortle around her. The teacher has not noticed, and when he turns sharply to see the commotion, everyone becomes a dutiful student until he turns around and continues with his lecture.

Fumbling with the wadded up ball of lines paper, Tenten wonders if it is there to just sour her mood some more. Her canvas is already heavy with the picture of misery, why add another brush stroke to make it all topple down? Turning the ball around as she ponders its cause, the brunette girl finds what appears to be a little picture of a fish, drawn crudely in blue ink. Now curious but unable to show it, Tenten unfolds the paper curtly and smooths it out. In front of her, everything is drawn in a blue ink. The pictures, despite being amateurish in proportion and shape, are all drawn with a confidant hand.

They range from a sleek, striped cat with large eyes either sleeping or looking up at the viewer. Sometimes its mouth is widened so that viciously sharp pointy teeth are sticking out. Other times, it is chewing on a fish or eat from a small can of tuna on what appears to be the side of a street. The doodles are all centered around one larger picture, one that seems to have taken a while longer due to the faint pencil marks, as if the drawer was attempting to put as much effort as they could into the simple construction despite their obvious lack of skill.

It's a caricature. Of Tenten. She can tell by the obvious buns at the top of the girl's hair. Her face is a circle, and her eyes are clear lines. She is wearing a really big sweater, somewhat exaggerated by the way it puffs out at every which way. Her sticky long legs, which is quiet the contrary since she has muscular stumpy ones, are covered in a plethora of small bandages, several of which seem to have a cat head with a bow on it's ear on them. And there, in her arms, is Hui Zhong. And on her face is a really big smile. Despite all of the drawings being in blue, it is like the gifter had picked up a bucket of yellow paint and promptly threw it all over her canvas. The act was impulsive and funny and it made her want to really smile. So she did, and it didn't feel so weird.

Tilting her head back up, she saw Blueberry sitting at her desk, quietly listening to the teacher. She couldn't have possibly done this despite her concerns. She wasn't glancing over at Tenten nervously with that meek little smile on her face, which she often did if wondering if someone was 'feeling happy' or not. She also was so scribbly with her doodles, and most of them were of Spikey. No, Tenten concluded, it wasn't Blueberry.

Searching the classroom, Tenten tried to find her Yellow-Painter. Green wasn't here, but Blueberry hadn't been the one to do it. Letting curiosity kill the cat, Tenten looked over at Honeydew's direction. He was busy writing notes down on his piece of paper. In his notebook, she could see the remains of a page being torn out and the way he was confidently writing everything down. In blue ink. Tenten tried hard to stare at him, wondering if he would turn around and she could try and look him in the eye. He didn't.

**:) :) :) :)))**

That night it was raining, and no matter how much Tenten protested her father wouldn't let her go outside to find Hui Zhong.

Outside Neji's window he heard a car screech and the sounds of a cat screaming.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hippocampus**

_The **hippocampus** is a major component of the brains of humans and other vertebrates. It belongs to the limbic system and plays important roles in the consolidation of information from short-term memory to long-term memory and spatial navigation._

_Over the years, three main ideas of hippocampal function have dominated the literature: inhibition, memory, and space._

_The second major line of thought relates the hippocampus to memory. Psychologists and neuroscientists generally agree that the hippocampus has an important role in the formation of new memories about experienced events (episodic or autobiographical memory).[16][20] Part of this role is hippocampal involvement in the detection of novel events, places and stimuli.[21] Some researchers view the hippocampus as part of a larger medial temporal lobe memory system responsible for general declarative memory (memories that can be explicitly verbalized—these would include, for example, memory for facts in addition to episodic memory).[15]_

* * *

Neji spend as much time as he could searching for that cat. He didn't set his alarm, but he woke up an hour and a half earlier than normal, as if fate was telling him that he should be looking as much as he could. So he did. He ran around his quaint neighborhood of apartment buildings trying to locate any signs of a dirty orange cat until he was nearly late for school. Unable to do anything for now, he set down another can of tuna where the first two had been. Whenever he had passed them by after school, the can was never there. His hopes and fear were high when he went to his first class.

He ignored his cousin and his cousin's awkward friend, and even left Lee when the other said that he couldn't find the stray he had been tailing that morning. Instead he hung out with Sasuke and his gaggle of friends. No one knows how Naruto got into this school, something about his father leaving behind enough money and a man named Jiraiya arranging the blond's education. He barely pulls off a C-average were it not for the Uchiha genius and Sakura's intellectual intervention. The girl is bubbly and cheerful, talking with Naruto about this and that while keeping Sasuke in on the conversation by asking his opinion about things. Sasuke is mostly quiet, and the two 'prodigies' endure the chit-chat with stoic faces. Neji cannot say that he enjoys their company, but he does not know if he detests it either. Naruto's definitely annoying, but Sakura can be even more annoying especially if she is with Ino. Sasuke's a self-centered ass. Neji had no idea why he called them friends in the first place.

Then, Ino _does_ come over dragging the very put-upon Shikamaru and weary Chouji. Shikamary sits beside him, forming the 'Prodigy Three' as they are so-called while Ino and Sakura begin talking with more exuberance and passion. Neji, since he is not paying attention, notices that the cherry-haired girl's idle hand is locked with Naruto's. He felt a powerful need to walk away right then and there.

"Hey, man, you feeling alright?" Shikamaru asks, the lazy drawl of his words telling the average person that he really didn't care. Since Neji is not 'the average person' and knows that if Shikamaru did not care then he wouldn't have asked in the first place, the white-eyed male grumbles. "Well, you sorta look agitated. Problems at home?" Neji remained stubbornly silent. "Whatever, be a drag if you want." And the lazy male goes back to nearly sleeping on his feet.

Both girls are talking about what they plan to do for the summer and upcoming events. The main talk is all about Sakura's fifteenth birthday, of how it will be on the beach and even her friend's friends shall be invited. They will all have a large bonfire and everyone will roast s'mores. Neji is distracted, thinking on what he should get Hanabi instead. Her birthday is only a day before, and she will be turning eleven within a few weeks. Valentine's day was about a week and a half ago.

"We should invite Gaara, Kankurou, and Temari as well!" Sakura beamed, eyes alight.

Naruto was quick to agree. "Yeah! Gaara!" The two had apparently become friends in a temporary mental institution, and though the three siblings lived far away in the deserts, they often kept in touch. "He can help us with the sand castles!" Neji snorted. How childish.

_A little Tenten and Hinata at the beach, both wearing pink one-piece swimsuits. Hinata's had bright yellow polka-dots while Tenten's has a panda head on the front. Both have their hair in braids; Tenten's in long chocolate plaits while Hinata's was confined within an individual braid. They were thirteen, the age of adolescence, and yet they were making a sand castle. Neji snorted and went back to reading his novel underneath the shade of the large umbrella they had fortunately brought along. His skin was already coated in layers of sunscreen, but the sun's vicious rays seems to cause the hairs on his arms to crackle and smoulder. In front of him, the two girls had erected a small mound of sand that was slowly being turned into an even uglier mound of sand. A pile of seashells laid between them, each girl picking several up now and then to place upon the 'palace'._

_"World champion sand-castle building started in 1989," Tenten informed, lightly squeezing the liquid-sand combination to create small towels of drip. "The world's tallest sand castle is currently 15.1 meters high and took three hundred truckloads of sand to create."_

_Hinata nearly dropped her plastic shovel, eyes wide. "Wo-wow! Th-that's amazing!"_

_Neji grumbled. "You mean that sand-castle making is an actual competition?"_

_Tenten simply nodded. "It began in Canada." She obviously had not noticed the way his brow furrowed and his frown deepened to show that he didn't actually care._

_Turning back to his book, intent on drowning out the annoying crash of the waves and the way seagulls shrieked from the sky, how sand had tumbled its way into uncomfortable places and the salty wind blew bugs into his eyes. "This is so childish." Hinata merely giggled hysterically when Tenten picked up two sand pale dollars and placed them over her eyes._

_"I've got Byakugan. I can see everything." The boy couldn't help but roll his own white eyes at this. He didn't know what 'Byakugan' was, but he was positive that it didn't allow you to see _everything_._

Something grabbed him by the shoulder. It was Sakura.

"Hey, can you invite Hinata? Please, Neji?" He politely brushed off her hand. He had tried to get Hinata and Sakura acquainted, but the friendship never seemed to take. Maybe now? "Oh, cool! She's so shy, I was hoping this big party would help her get out of her shell." A pause. Sakura bit her lower lip. "But… um…" She fumbled on her words, unable to look him in the eye.

"You don't have to invite Tenten if you don't want to," he supplied, even when his jaw tensed and he glared. Naruto glared right back, but it wasn't like he understood. He and Tenten were never in the same class. They probably have never met before.

As if a weight had been lifted, Sakura smiled and turned back to Ino. Disgusted, Neji excused himself to find Lee. They still had about thirty minutes left in lunch.

**:) :) :) :(**

Tenten had left Blueberry to study in the library. She sat outside, eating a slice of leftover pizza. In front of her, girls gossiped and flirted with boys. Having nothing else to do, Tenten began to study the movements of a boy and a girl.

She had flaming red hair. One side of it was smoothly combed, while the other was crazy and messy. She wore thick-rimmed black glasses and really, really short black pants that might be breaking the dress code at the amount of rear end she displayed. Her shirt was not the noodle-strapped tank top and did not show off her underclothes, but it was still tight enough to know what bra she wore underneath. Tenten wasn't even sure if the redhead knew how the male's gaze would flicker down for the briefest of seconds, the two of them talking more about the latest concert or band that was going to be playing in the area.

The girl was happily engaged, talking for most of the conversation. The male nodded and added his opinion when the gap provided itself, but mostly she would lead the topic. "God, I fucking love Foster the People!" she exclaimed, as if her profanity somehow made her statement all the more effective. "Everyone only hears the song they play on the radio, but I like to listen to their other songs like 'waste' and 'call it what you want' and shit." Tenten inclined her head a bit. She is utterly confused.

Giving up, she turned to a different group, one that had only females. They were talking and goofing off on the stairs, a dangerous place to do so and yet they were pushing each other around comfortably. Looking at some more girls, Tenten noticed a very important pattern. Nearly all of them were wearing short-shorts for some reason. It was logical to have on shorter pants due to being spring, but to such excess?

Tenten considered the pros of them, then found that with the sweaters she wore, it would like like she had nothing underneath at all. She quickly discarded the idea and put her attention on the girl's actions.

They were very animated, swaying to whichever way the topic was relevant. From 'don't you think Sasuke's good looking' to 'The Prodigy Three sure are awesome!' and then to 'I wish I had a boyfriend'. They moved their hands around, bouncing on the heels of their feet at something that was important or for emphasis. The way they all talked, stood, and gestured towards one another… Tenten found that she would never be able to come to such a carefree way of communication. She barely understood what they were talking about, how could she repeat the motions to fit in? Not even giving a sigh, Tenten mentally thought back on all of the conversations she has had.

_"Te-Tenten, can you go ask N-Neji if he w-wants to have ice cream f-for dinner?" Blueberry asked her, setting the plates for dinner on the nice clean table in the kitchen. Tenten had simply stood beside her, already proven herself too left-footed to handle the fine china her friend could place with ease. As she still focused on the really nice floor the Hyuugas have, Tenten turned and walked down the hall to where the male was probably doing his homework or some other activity of his choosing._

_She knocked once, as was custom there, and when he voiced his acknowledgement, she opened the door and stepped in. Honeydew had long ago decided that if she wasn't going to look him in the eye, then he wouldn't even bother turning her way. "Blueberry sent me to tell you…." her words slithered away when she gazed ahead. His room was spartan besides a bed, dresser, lamp, desk with a chair, and TV set. Several papers were scattered before him, his dark grey backpack settled on the floor. He had a window that gave him a view to the street down below, but none of that caught Tenten's eye. What she saw was what appeared to be a bee, hovering in his room._

_And she was fixated on it._

_Tenten ceased all function besides looking at the bee until Honeydew did look at her to see why she had stopped talking. Tenten didn't know why she did this, she just couldn't talk properly when her attention was captured. It was very hard to break away from the trance; she rarely even knew she was in one to begin with. But that bee… Tenten loved bees. They are very much extraordinary creatures, able to communicate through dancing and laying their lives down for their queen. Such strong teamwork for insects that don't even live long…_

_"Tenten," Honeydew started, noticing her attention. She didn't move her head but her brown eyes followed the black and yellow thing buzzing in his room. "Tenten?" Seeing that she wouldn't be responsive, Honeydew closed the book he had been reading, carefully sliding the bookmark between the pages, and stood up poised for assault. _WHACK!

_Within seconds Honeydew had caught the bee floating over his desk, and brutally brought his copy of _'The Art of War'_ down upon its innocent little bee head. Like a bubble bursting, Tenten's eyes widened a bit and flinched on instinct from the sound. Silence, then._

_"Now, what were you saying?" The ice on his words might have intimidated someone else, but Tenten had yet to decipher his subtle tones._

_Remembering what she was to say, silently frowning when Honeydew brushed the smashed bee carcass off his book into the waste basket beside him, Tenten told him, "Do you want ice cream?" He smirked mirthlessly at her words and nodded, following her back to the dining room where Blueberry was already setting the food out._

_"Wh-what took you so-so long?" she asked innocently._

_"Honeydew's a Bee-Masher," Tenten complained tonelessly, causing him to chuckle darkly. Blueberry shifted her eyes between them, a bit incredulous as she too took her place beside her little sister, who only huffed at the brunette._

Even after four years, she still hard trouble talking and other actions sometimes. Often, she had to keep her eyes on the ground or some neutral area. At first she had tried to look at people's lips, but when they moved they distracted her. Funny enough, when other people are talking she can move just fine and not be distracted while listening to words. It must be her fault.

_"Ne-je-deeww." She waited for a response. When all she got was a glare, she tried again, tongue heavy in her mouth. "Neee… Neee… Honeydew. Honeydew, it's to hard."_

_"No it's not," he snapped, irritably reading yet another book as they watched TV. In the absence Blueberry had left them to go get some refreshments from the garage refrigerator, Honeydew had began prodding her to call him by his 'real name'. Apparently he didn't like to be named after a fruit known only for its sweetness. Honeydew wasn't very sweet, but the name always seemed to fit. To Tenten at least. "Neji. Hyuuga _Neji_. Say it, you." His voice was demanding, as usual._

_"Ne… dew. Ne… dew. Honey… ji." Tenten would have chuckled as she tried yet another failed attempted. "Honeydew, I just can't. It's uncomfortable. It doesn't feel like you."_

_"Preposterous. It's just a word," he grumbled. "Neji. Tenten. Hinata. Hanabi. Hiashi. All nouns, all words. You try." He took a deep breath to reign in his aggravation, but whenever he was with it it was like his temper was pulled taught and all it took was one small imbalance to snap._

_"Ne…diiiii. Ne… dii. Nedi. Ned. Nerd. Nerdy Neji." She looked to him for confirmation, only to see a frown. Frowns aren't good, especially with Honeydew. Uncomfortable, Tenten looked down at her shoe laces. "I said you name. Nerdy Neji. Nerdy Neji the Honeydew Bee-Masher."_

_He nearly let out a growl of frustration until Blueberry came back and saved them both. After that, Honeydew never tried to force her to say his 'real name' ever again._

Giving up, and with Blueberry probably about to finishing soon, Tenten ate the rest of her food and turned to go back to the library. That was when she saw Green approaching her, looking around confused until he spotted her and pranced over. Her chest fluttered to being ten pounds lighter than it had been a few moments ago, unknown to her that it had even felt heavy.

"Tenten!" Green exclaimed, as if talking to a very good friend. "I've been looking all over for my eternal rival, Neji! Have you seen him? He wasn't where he normally ate lunch, and thus I wondered if he was in the library or possibly at the gym?" His eyes were twinkling with all of the loyalty and spirit of a new puppy. It was heartwarming and made Tenten suddenly want to wear short-shorts if just to be normal for him.

"Have not seen Honeydew, but…," She paused, unsure of how to continue. What if Green got confused by her? There were no distractions now, it was a one-on-one conversation. Could she pull it off? Steeling herself, Tenten kept her eyes glued to the ground - not their feet because Green's were bouncing around excitedly while hers shuffled around nervously. "Blueberry in library. Maybe… Honeydew with her? Help her?" Clean, curt lines. Was she sounding too mechanical? Does she sound retarded? A pebble is lodged in her throat and it's hard to breathe.

Thankfully, Green does not even seem to mind. Tenten physically blushed when he grabs her hand and pulls her with him, her two left-feet stumbling at first. "Come then, we shall congratulate the two on their family bonding! I knew Neji would warm up to his sweet cousin eventually!" And with that, Green sprinted off with Tenten awkwardly jogging behind, eyes fixated on their joined hands. They ran right over the campus and into the hallways to the library. Then, after Green was hushed by the librarian, he let go of he hand and they began prowling the bookcases for any signs of white eyes and pale skin. Tenten felt her fingers a bit cold at the loss, but maybe that is because she had been sweating from the run.

"Neji? Hinata?" Green whispered as softly as he could, peering around until he spotted a pretty young girl with long dark hair putting away the last of her papers in her bag. "Hinata! Youthful, graceful Hinata! Tenten, I found her!" Blueberry had a look of sheer delight at seeing Tenten interacting with Green. "Hinata, have you seen your eternally youthful cousin, Neji? I haven't seen him and I was wondering if he might have been helping you with your work?"

Hinata shook her head ruefully. "No, I wanted to do it by myself. It was not that hard. But… why would Neji not eat at his usual place. He's not one for change."

Green frowned slightly. "Most definitely. Maybe something had upset him, enough to make him wish for seclusion? Oh, but the burning flames of his passion will die out if -"

"Quiet!" the librarian hisses, earning Green's hasty comply before she turned back to typing at her computer.

Coughing lightly, Green brightened up immediately again and grinned. "Hintata, we must not let you cousin's youth be allowed to die out. We will find him before lunch is over, or else I will run a hundred laps around the track. And if I cannot do that, then a hundred pull-ups on the bar, with fifty pound weights on! And if I cannot do _that_ then surely as punishment I must -!"

"Rock Lee, I am going to have to ask you to leave!" the librarian snarls, and the three students depart with haste.

To their surprise, Honeydew is walking down the hall and seems unsurprised to find them being expelled from the library. "My most youthful friend!" Green cries, now out of the danger-zone of quiet voices and overworked librarians. "We were just about to go looking for you! Where have you been? We were worried that something unyouthful had happened that might have caused your flames to die out, and as your friend I can never let that happen!"

Honeydew forces his sneer into a passive line on his face. "Sakura wanted to invite me to her party. You are…" he pauses almost surreptitiously, and only Tenten notices, "all invited." Green gives a hoot while Blueberry smiles. Tenten looks at the floor unresponsive. "It will be at the beach on March 28th, at around 6 in the afternoon. There will be a bonfire and a lot of food." Startling them all - maybe sans Green - Tenten tilts her head back up and directs her attention perfectly into Honeydew's eyes. He freezes, words wilting on his tongue. Tenten doesn't know what she looks like, maybe blank as usual? Whatever it is, the gears in her head turn. The bees are buzzing in her ear.

"My birthday is March 9th," she informs them. Blueberry gasps beside her. She had never really told them her birthday because she never really had a party for it. Only her mother had thrown her a small, quiet celebration filled with baked goods and warm kisses. Tenten swallows thickly as she continues to stare Honeydew down. The effort is burning her corneas. "Dad suggests a party. For friends. If I have any." Maybe she should have blinked, for her eyes were stinging from the air. "Can you come to my party as well?" She tears her gaze away, finally, and is adamantly focused on the linoleum floor of the hallway blinking away tears.

"Yes!" Blueberry breaths, pulling her into a tender hug. In the past, Tenten had turned rigid at the contact, not very use to touch after her mother's passing, but now she had softened to giving no reaction. She didn't go stiff nor did she flinch, but she didn't have it in her to hug back. She'd probably do it wrong. "Yes, I would _love_ to attend your birthday! Lee and Neji will come, right?" She turned to them, too hopefully for words.

"Why, of course, Hinata!" Green proclaims, and Tenten wished that he could look at her the same way he did Strawberry. She just knew that he looked at the fair-haired lass with so much more light than he did her. "I would not dare excuse myself from a friend's party! It is unyouthful, and I am anything but!"

The brown-eyed girl chanced a glance at Honeydew. He was the picture of composed, eyes straight ahead with his head held high, back straight and shoulders relaxed but pulled back. Blueberry looked up at him pleadingly. Then, after an inner war, he said, "I'll come." His cousin yipped and was about to hug him as well, but quietly refrained and gave him a tender smile instead. Honeydew sighed. "What time will the party be, and where?" Tenten quickly regurgitated what her father had specified for her. Four in the afternoon because he will get off of work early that day. He will bring a cake and they will dine at her house. Tell them not to bring presents. "Why not?" Honeydew asked skeptically, "aren't presents customary?"

"Dad said presents don't mean friendship," she repeated. Her father was a paranoid man. If they brought her gifts, it might feel like they were obligated to do so rather than actually wanting to. In his own agitated way, her dad was making sure that everyone who came wanted to come, and it made her smile slightly and feel a warmth she hadn't felt in a long time. "Dad just wants me with friends. Just friends." She peeked over at Green's grinning face. "Just friends."

Honeydew let it go easily. He would have no idea what she would have liked anyways. But, now that Tenten thought about it, he was highly perceptive. For a long time he always kept his eyes on her, trying to strangulate out patterns that he could understand. Her reactions were far from normal, and because of this he kept her distanced like she was some strange new species he wouldn't dare touch. Tenten respected this, even admired this, because rather than break up her and Blueberry's friendship, he had tolerated it to the best of his abilities. Plus, he is Green's best friend. He would know all about Green, along with what would make a suitable mate. And even if Green did not return her feelings, she was willing to try even harder to appear 'normal' and meet more good people like him. It would benefit them both.

Would he agree to this though? Tenten looked over at him, finding that he was not returning her gaze. She looked at Green, and found that he was babbling about the wonders of life and the youthful vitality of cake and candles. Her heart thumped in her chest and she found that maybe years of silence should be brought to an end.

**:) :) :) :)**

Neji's mind was clouded with problems. He hadn't meant to say that Sakura invited them _all_, but Tenten was there and he had already started talking and couldn't stop. He was even going to add that no she wasn't really invited until she turned her head up and _looked_ at him. In the eye. She did it wrong by not blinking, but she had tried and she had even talked. About her own birthday. He was reminded throughout their years together that Tenten never bothered to tell them of her birthday. He didn't even know how old she was, but he guessed that she was at least a few months older than he was. Seeing her try so hard to divulge a fact that she had once considered useless, as well as making eye contact, caused him to baulk under his cousin's plea and he decided to go to the second party. Neji didn't say it aloud, but he wasn't a fan of them.

At least he didn't have to buy her a present.

Walking down the street to his house, Neji thought back on her fascination with bees, and all of the times he hit one in front of her to get a reaction. Whenever he did so, she would call him Honeydew Bee-Masher, but that was as far as it went with outward displays of any extreme emotion. At first he thought that she wasn't angry, but to see her face _change_ at the dead bee's and to change his nickname, which he knew she hated to do, it told him that she just _couldn't _express herself rather than didn't. Idly, Neji turned his head down to look at the curb.

The can he had placed was where he had left it, exactly as it had been that morning. His chest tightened and he scurried away from the street as if a trench had opened up behind him, one full of frustration and regrets and what-if's. That night he stayed up despite the tick-tock of his clock, hoping to hear a cat outside. He went to bed in complete silence.

* * *

**A/N: Oops, only now realized I forgot the bit of information I usually put at the top. Fix'd.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Leopard cat**

_The **leopard cat** (Prionailurus bengalensis) is a small wild cat of South and East Asia. Since 2002 it has been listed as Least Concern by IUCN as it is widely distributed but threatened by habitat loss and hunting in parts of its range. There are twelve leopard cat subspecies, which differ widely in appearance.[2]_

_The leopard cat's name is derived from the leopard-like spots prevalent in all subspecies, but its relation to the leopard is distant._

* * *

Hui Zhong was officially declared dead a week before Tenten's birthday, and she didn't come to school at the start of the next week. Hinata was terribly worried about that, especially when Tenten's phone was never on and none of them knew where she lived because she always came to Hinata's house. The location of her own home was just another useless personal facts she didn't bother with.

"O-oh Neji," Hinata sobbed for the millionth time that day, leaning against him despite his rigidness as she tried to console herself. Lee had just ran off, something about making sure that Naruto was keeping the dearest Sakura happy, and it took all of the quiet girl's self-control not to break down before he left. "Th-this i-is jus-just ho-h-horrible! Te-Ten-Tenten's cat i-is..." she stifled another sob. "Fir-first he-her m-mother, a-and the-then her ca-cat! It's th-the on-only th-thin-thing she ha-has t-t-to re-reme-remember h-her by!"

Neji for his part was calm and collected. He wasn't shrieking into his relative's shoulder and getting snot and tears all over their jacket, mourning a friend's emotional stability. It irked him again that Tenten had holed herself away from the world though. Her mother's dead and so if her mother's precious cat. And she doesn't shed a single damn tear when she told Hinata before walking back home. Neji was a bloody expert at bottling your emotions, just like what Lee had said, and decided that cracking her lid a bit might help get his sobbing cousin off of him and allow him to return to his disorderly free lifestyle.

Her birthday was this coming Saturday, so she'd better have enough time to blankly mourn in her room. Neji knew about loss, a great deal in fact, so he knew that getting Tenten back out into the open will help her recover. It was like an open wound. Sometimes you just need to throw salt on it. That's what had happened to Neji, so he assumed it would work for her.

He couldn't even fathom why he cared, or why he was actually trying to get her back to 'normal'. For years he hated her 'normal' personality and wished that she stopped being weird. Now that she was being weird, he found it unsettling. He never realized how dim her eyes had become, or how frumpy her clothes got. The sweaters seemed to be either getting bigger, or she was losing weight at a rapid pace. He knew nothing about her because he didn't really want to learn. But over the course of almost a month, he learned that her mother's dead, her cat might be dead as well, she actually can look people in the eye, and that her birthday is March 9th. No too shabby, considering he had only known her name, gender, and ethnicity for the entire four-to-five years of their acquaintance with one another.

Neji didn't even know what her disorder was. As far as he and Hinata knew, hers was either too obscure, or a variation or assimilation of many other defects. She either spoke in long winding sentences or stupid caveman-like speak that was unpleasant to anyone who could hear. She couldn't multitask and talk at the same time either, often getting distracting by something moving or a stray thought. As well, Tenten doesn't look people in the eye, the most aggravating of her habits.

It was pretty damn rude in Neji's book to not look someone in the eye, and he couldn't think of a reason for her to avoid the contact. It had been what had surprised him into agreeing to attend her birthday. He did not consider her a 'friend' because that's Hinata's job, but he will be there for her cat.

He almost missed watching the terrifyingly skinny, dirtied feline playing in the shadows, hissing if he took a step towards it and having no fear in glaring at him. Tenten was right, it was like there were real specks of gold in his eyes.

But now the stupid cat was dead, possible run over by some careless driver on the road that stormy night. He had tried, honestly, he did, to find the body, but either it had been eaten by another predator or the garbage truck scraped it off the street. Or Hui Zhong was still alive? No, the cry had definitely been familiar.

"L-Lee's coming! Do I-I-I lo-look alri-alright?" Hinata asked suddenly, forcing Neji to turn his gaze at her.

_You look like your face had been half-eaten and spat back on_. "You look fine."

Her shoulders stayed rigid as she wiped at her nose once more before turning to Lee innocently as he rushed towards them. Once he got close, he leaned towards them and said in a whisper, "Naruto and Sakura got into a very unyouthfultiff. He accused her of still having feelings for the radiant Sasuke, and she stormed off after punching him. I would have gone to help her, but I think it's a very unwise decision... her youthful fist dented a locker." Hinata giggled sadly. "Ah, lovely, vibrant Hinata! You look sad! Have you been crying?" Whoops, busted.

Neji did a very bad show of pretending that his cousin didn't have the face of trash as she pouted at him from askance. Pfft, women. She sighed and nodded. "T-Tenten's cat... H-Hui Zhong... h-h-he's be-been lost fo-for a w-while no-now, and I-I've been hoping tha-that it-it was th-the str-stray you've been seeing i-in the neighborhood. Bu-but Tenten said that i-it's been al-almost a month a-and no one's reco-recognized him yet. She's ta-taking his death ve-very hard, a-and in turn, so-so a-am I." In a very Lee-like manner, he felt into a kneel on the pavement and reached for the sky to begin dramatically weeping for the cruelness of this world, spouting off lines from famous plays as if that could emphasize his feelings.

"Oh woe is me, woe is me! My youthful friend has had something dear taken from her! The flowers of her youth shall surely begin wilting like rain from the somber sky if we do not do something!" His eyes widened almost comically. "But _what!_ As you said, beautiful Hinata, we may have all been looking for Tenten's cat and have yet to find it! Surely gallant Hui Zhong is in trouble! Who knows how long a domestic animal will live outside of its environment? What to do! What to do!"

Irritated by too much emotions from Lee and stunted emotions from Tenten, Neji snapped, "Why don't you just make a wanted poster, Lee? Tack it up to every square inch of the city." He growled it, but it got across to his friend's thick skull. Lee should have never joined drama club. He should never have been near their teacher Gai either, but the world just isn't fair now is it.

"_Brilliant!_" Lee yelled, catching the attention of their fellow classmates. It usually took something very exciting for the guy to scream and have people stare. They should be used to it by now. "We will spread Hui Zhong's disappearance all around, and surely he will be safely returned to his loving owner!" He paused, a rare moment of thought slipping between his ears. "We'll need a picture."

Silence descended upon them like a vulture upon its deceased prey. Getting a picture would mean going over to Tenten's house and asking her. They could easily look up her address on the school's public computer, but to suddenly demand a reminder of her precious cat so soon after his demise? Neji swallowed as Hinata sniffled. "I-I have piano les-lessons after school today," she whispered, sounding more disappointed than daunted. "A-and tomorrow Hanabi and I ha-have ballet lessons. Th-then th-there's father's im-impor-important b-business d-dinner we mus-must att-attend a-a-and..." She fell silent then, worriedly fiddling with her fingers again.

"I have a marathon tomorrow, and after school I have drama. The play for A Midsummer Night's Dream is on Friday, Neji! I get to be Puck, the fairy!" Neji frowned, suddenly realizing what was going to happen. "You'll have to ask Tenten. You're an honest person, I am positive that your youthful request will be accomplished if you tell Tenten of your youthful intentions."

_My intentions are to wring her pretty little neck_. "Not happening. I don't know anything about her." The song liar liar pants on fire began to play in his head.

"But you and the exquisite Hinata have had history with Tenten since you were in middle school, have you not?" Lee asked.

"Doesn't mean I'm her friend." Lee looked at him like _he_ was the dumb one this time. It didn't sit well with Neji and he folded his arms over his chest defensively. "I'm not going to track her house down."

Hinata bravely put her hands on her cousin's shoulder, feeling him tense beneath her at the fragile contact. "D-do you re-really have an-anything be-better to do th-than to si-sit around in an em-empty house all day?" she asked curiously as well as striking a nerve. Neji glared at her, years full of burning hatred springing forth into his eyes. She let go as if hit, trembling further as she hastily wiped away tears. Lee looked at him curiously, apparently having never seen their strained relationship. "P-please, N-Neji! I-I-I'll do-do-do a-any-anyth-thing!" She clasped her hands in front of her and lowered her head, becoming as submissive as possible under her relative's scorn.

She, a girl who was given everything, was prostrating herself to a boy who had all he had ever known stripped away from him. She obviously didn't know what she possessed, but all in all it was not what Neji wanted anymore. Spitefully, he said, "Then tell Tenten she isn't allowed at Sakura's party. She was never invited in the first place."

Lee gasped, eyes wide as he sputtered. "S-S-S-Sak-Sakura wo-would never do such!" he frowned, ready to resort to fisticuffs if his hardheaded friend couldn't feel the weight of his words.

Neji scoffed, a dark smirk now on his face as he stood up from the bench he had been sitting on. Hinata looked up at him with a hurt expression, despaired hope lining her sparkling wide eyes that made him cringe and look back at the dark-haired bug-eyed boy. "She did. She told me herself. Not even Sakura likes Tenten, and I sure as hell never did in the first place. I'll get her cat back, and then I never want to have anything to do with that girl ever again, understand Hinata?" She didn't nod her head but Neji didn't need confirmation. The bell rung and he walked off to his next class.

**:) :) :) :(**

Tenten's father was the one to answer the door, looking impeccably clean and well-groomed despite his aged appearance. He looked to be in his sixties despite probably being only in his late-forties. He was already balding with strips of grey hair in the places that were not covered in worry lines. His small blue eyes were covered by thick-rimmed glasses as his mouth was pressed into a cold line. In a way, it reminded Neji of Tenten and he knew he had gotten the right house.

"I don't want any girl scout cookies," the man said tonelessly, causing Neji's temper to fume. He didn't hide his glare, which the man either ignored or did not understand. "What are you here for? My daughter doesn't have any friends."

Something in his jaw tightened but Neji ignored it. "Your daughter, Tenten, has informed me that her cat is missing." The man continued to look like a block of cinder standing in the doorframe of his simple abode. Neji had at first been surprised at how far away it actually was. "I wanted to help by putting up signs of a missing feline, but I need a picture. Do you think that you can spare one for me to borrow?"

The man stared down at him. His skin was like worn leather and he was much taller than his daughter, having to actually lean down if he had to exit his front door. "You're a strange girl, you know that? Fine, have it. I don't need it anymore." Surprisingly, the man took out his wallet and handed Neji a picture from it. He was a bit flabbergasted, but then wondered if what Tenten has is hereditary. It made him somewhat ashamed to be doing what he was doing, but he swallowed it down like bile and thanked the man, despite the gender-confusion and uncomfortable circumstance.

"I will return it as soon as I can," he promised, watching as the door was slammed in his face without a 'thank you' or a 'goodbye'. The man didn't even seem to care about what he had given away. Looking down at it, Neji suddenly wanted to tell Hinata not to tell Tenten she's not invited to the party and to pry open her father's door to tell him that yes he's her friend he has been her friend for five fucking years and no he is not a goddamn girl.

He saw Tenten smiling. Genuine and crisp like it had been taken yesterday even though the Tenten in this picture is no older than a chubby eleven-year-old. She is wearing a dress suspiciously like a famous cartoon mouse; the red one covered in white polka-dots while her hair is pulled into the usual buns on her head. Maybe she wore them for a bigger reason, because her appearance was making an extraordinarily beautiful young woman clap her hands in bliss as her daughter pranced around the living room. Hui Zhong was on the woman's lap, looking much healthier and vibrant but still keeping the same rude look of staring and not exactly giving a shit.

They are in a place with warm wooden floors and sunlight beaming down on them in the afternoon. Tenten's father must have been the one to take the picture, reminding Neji of the picnic they had recently.

Tenten looked so happy, so free from all of the neglect she had gone through during all of high school. Neji remembered in middle school how she stuck to him and Hinata rather than the other students, and he had always thought them too beneath him to wonder why the three of them were always ostracized. Sometime, long ago, Tenten had been happy.

As he walked, photo carefully kept in his pocket, Neji contemplated the girl's start into emptiness. Her mother was dead, but was fully alive in the photo. That meant in the nearly six-or-seven year gap between the photo and now, her mother had passed away. It had to have been recently, for Hui Zhong would have run away sooner if it had been later, right? Her mother must have known about all the bullying? She probably wasn't alive when Tenten entered high school then. And with the way her father is... how similar he is to her... well, sadness does wonders to a person's self-esteem. Neji would know.

On Monday he got her cat's photo, having to scan it into the school's computer and cropping the image before editing in all of the details. "Orange cat with spots. Green eyes. Call this number. Will pay." Neji had to think about that. He often saw monetary information on these kinds of things, but he didn't know how much Tenten's cat would be worth. He blinked and typed in a number high enough to maybe intrigue the average person but low enough so that he can get Lee and Hinata to pitch in.

On Tuesday he made several copies of the want ad and tried to spread them around after school. He felt a little silly doing it, having to go to the nearby park and in front of the school's entrance to make sure they gained attention, but with Hui Zhong's imploringly smug expression looking up at him all day, Neji hastily scattered about fifty pieces of paper around school, the path he used to walk to school, and in between his and Tenten's house. He hoped that during her ballet lessons, Hinata would trip and break her ankle. And that Lee would get last place in his crappy marathon.

On Wedsneday he sat at home, alone in the dark listening to his clock until he fell asleep on the couch.

On Thursday he asked Hinata if she told Tenten yet of not being invited. She avoided him for the rest of the day and Neji felt like smashing his clock when he got home.

On Friday, Neji was positive that no one had even begun looking for the cat. He even gave them _his_ home number instead of Tenten's. Nothing happened. Tenten was still gone, maybe as rigid as her father is. He laid down on his couch looking over to where a clock use to be. It was gone, having been thrown in the trash - every last piece of it - yet he could still hear the unfathomably loud _tick tock_ sound that resonated in his head.

Maybe it was because he never knew how bad Tenten had it, and pitied her. That's probably it, because there is no other reason to feel any attachment to this girl besides tidal waves of guilt. That's why he began feeding Hui Zhong when he found out he was Tenten's cat. That's why he let his friend Lee interact with her. It's the reason he tried to give her a picture even though he sucked at drawing. It's the reason he invited her to Sakura's birthday even though he explicitly said that he would not. It's the reason he agreed to go to _her_ birthday. Pity. Neji pitied her.

All there is to it. _Tick tock_.

He won't even miss her. _Tick tock_.

She was annoying anyways._ Tick tock_.

No his heart did not stop when she looked at him in the eyes. _Tick tick tick tock_.

Sighing, Neji was about to reach for his ancient TV remote to try and rot his brain with the stupid talking sponge or some criminal investigation so corny and fake he'll fall asleep. Suddenly, right as he was about to press the power button and submit himself to a possible three-hour marathon of Lost, his house phone rang.

Neji knew this because he lived alone. If Hinata had called, she would have used his cellphone - he never told her his house number. But it was the number he had used if someone ever found Hui Zhong, and with more speed than necessary, Neji leapt off the couch and scrambled into the kitchen to grab at the phone on its holder at the counter. Swallowing thickly, unaware that something had lodged itself in his trachea, Neji said as smoothly as he could, "Hello?"

"Oh, hello!" cooed an elderly voice. "Is this the owner of the darling cat I found?"

"Depends. There is a missing cat," he found himself replying. Then, thinking back on his first meeting with the wicked creature, said, "His name is Hui Zhong. He is a medium-sized, very thin wild-looking cat with short, reddish-brown fur spotted like a leopard and stripes on his legs and tail. He has cream white fur on his stomach and the tips of his paws though. He has very predatory-like eyes, and they are alexandrite with hints of gold in them. He likes to hiss when you're near him and he eats tuna from the can."

A kind chortle from the other line. "Oh yes, then I've got the right cat! You must miss him dearly; I can drive over right now and return him! He's a feisty one, half-starved and so dirty! I had wrestle him to the nearby veterinarian to make sure that he wasn't diseased. Didn't have a collar or a chip though, so I was so glad when I stumbled upon your want ad! Oh ho ho!"

Breathing lightly now, Neji gave the kind old woman his address and read a book waiting for her to arrive. The doorbell rang and in front of his doorstep was the woman holding a cat with the smuggest expression the boy had ever seen. Could cats smirk? Hui Zhong hissed at him, raising a paw with the claws already out, but instantly jumped out of the woman's arms and streaked right into his house. Neji thanked the lady, who fortunately did not want the payment, and promised to never lose the cat ever again despite it not being his. He closed the door and heard her car drive off before turning and realizing that Hui Zhong had disappeared from his living room.

"Oh hell," Neji breathed, frantically scanning the area. Mentally, he remembered the open window in his bedroom and ran towards it.

A completely spartan area, that literally has not been touched save the bed and rolling chair since he first entered it. It also had a desk, lamp, and well-stocked bookcase but that was all he ever needed. Now, in front of Neji opposite of the opened door, he saw Hui Zhong languidly lying down on the opened window sill. "You fucking cat," he hissed himself as he slowly walked closer. Hui Zhong was alert in an instant, his cleaned coat now shining as the stripes around his eyes made him look downright sinful. He raised a clawed hand at the boy, who only inched closer. _Not this time_.

To Neji's chagrin, Hui Zhong did leap out of his window into his front lawn. Not giving it an instant, he tore out of his house hastily. When the feline was dying on the street covered in filth, Neji had never entertained the thought of going after it. He found it gruesomely unfair that, now with Hui Zhong recovered to full health, he had to put forth the effort in catching it as it darted down the street.

He had to use tact to get the little bastard back, knowing full well that he cannot outrun a cat. Thinking quickly as he followed Hui Zhong into the fenced-off alleyway Lee had first tried looking for him, Neji scrambled over the wooden fence and knocked over trash cans. Hui Zhong easily found higher ground, scampering off down the narrow passages. Huffing, Neji quickly climbed back over and ran off around the corner. If he timed it correctly, he would only suffer minor injuries. Bracing himself, he pushed his feet to move forward right as he ran another corner just in time to see Hui Zhong's sleek body skip out onto the sidewalk.

Tackling the cat, despite its yowls and claws, Neji held on tightly and worked to contain the fussy beast while making sure it couldn't run away again. A cat is suck a fickle thing. You get one so that one day you may earn its love, but every time you bend down and reach your hand out for it to come to you, it turns its head away and saunters off. No matter what you give the cat, nothing ever feels good enough. Even if the cat lived in your house and ate the food you gave it, is it really your cat? The thing's probably staying with you because you provide familiar territory, shelter, and food. Even if you had it for its entire life, would it ever come to love you back as much as you can love it? Irritated and scratched all over, Neji kept Hui Zhong in a crippling embrace as he made his way to Tenten's house. He hadn't realized how long he had waited, but by now he was almost thirty minutes late.

Unable to knock on her door, Neji was forced to kick it lightly until her father opened the door. Upon seeing the cat, the man's eyes seemed to change color when his face remained cold. "You're late," he said as he made way for Neji to enter. The house was small, but slightly bigger than his own. It also had hardwood floors, at which he was grateful for. "They're all in the living room through the kitchen." Nodding once, Neji hefted Hui Zhong, who had begrudgingly stopped trying to tear the boy's eyes out and getting away.

When he entered there was an audible silence.

Whatever it was that Tenten, Hinata, and Lee had been doing before he arrived, it was lost when all eyes descended upon a very battered, war-torn Neji holding an arrogant cat in his arms. "You said you didn't want a present," he said, voice a lot lower than he had anticipated. Neji swallowed, about to continue in his normal tone until Tenten rose to her feet and took a step forward. His voice suddenly was no louder than a mouse's squeak. "But... because it was yours in the first place, I might as well hand it over." He didn't know if he was talking about the cat or something else, but his head went blank when Tenten's earthy brown eyes seemed to _shine_ and turn the most enchanting color of liquid amber.

"Hui Zhong," she said, and even though she didn't smile or begin to tear up like a normal person, the unusual tension in her shoulders relaxed and her hands shook slightly underneath her large sweater when she held them out. Neji easily let the cat pounce from his grasp and into Tenten's, mewling into her woolen clothing as Hinata broke down crying again and Lee gave a triumphant "Yosh!" and a thumbs-up.

"N-N-Neji..." Hinata said softly when they all sat back down at the low table in Tenten's living room. She gave him a tender smile, but had worry etched on her soft features.

Slightly lightheaded, Neji told her as he watched Hui Zhong play with the buttons on his mistresses' shirt, "Do you think she likes the beach?" Hinata cried again, quickly assuring Tenten that she was 'feeling happy'.

"Oh, I am more than happy," Hinata told the brunette. Turning her eyes to her cousin, who continued to wear a dazed expression, she said tenderly, "I think everyone is feeling happy. Very happy."

* * *

**A/N: I can totally stop the story here. Tenten's cat was found - yay - but I still have a few things I had thought of that will make the thing longer. I might continue this longer because I feel that I haven't made Asperger's understandable, but right now I can clip it off. I have a few ideas planned too, such as Neji learning a lot more about Tenten's disorder and helping Tenten to finally fit in and Hinata trying to get over her heartbreak over the NaruSaku. More characters will be brought in as well, but the whole thing can flop due to a busy schedule and just not being suitable at trying to describe a disorder in its entirety. I don't like to admit it, but I do enjoy writing these long chapters hoping for a review. It means the hours I spend on analyzing Asperger's is actually interesting - in a way. And if you're wondering, I never planned for NejiTen from the start. It's going to be a gratingly long experience and you've probably seen the LeeTen hints (albeit one-sided), and even if I finish the story they may not get together. I'm trying to be realistic with Aspergian relationships, but who knows what will happen now. Hate having to leave author notes; hope you enjoyed the story so far.**


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